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Just Say Yes
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But far too many of us say, “No, no, no”
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By Kalia Doner
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Diabetes Focus Third Quarter 2005
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We are a nation of bad habits, but we are not afraid to admit it. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveyed more than 153,000 men and women and found that only 3 percent were taking the four most important steps toward good health: not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, eating right and exercising. “I was quite surprised at how low that number was,” said study coauthor Mathew Reeves, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology at Michigan State University. “These results illustrate the extraordinarily low prevalence of healthy lifestyles in the U.S. adult population.” About 76 percent of the respondents reported they didn’t smoke; 23 percent included at least five fruits and vegetables in their daily diets; only 22 percent had at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day five or more times a week; and about 40 percent maintained a healthy weight—defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 to 25. Women tended to have a healthier lifestyle than men, but neither gender came close to doing what you need to do for a healthy life.
If we adopted healthy habits, our lives would vastly improve. “I don’t know of anything a doctor can do that would reduce your risk of diabetes or cardiovascular disease by 80 to 90 percent,” says Reeves. But that is exactly the benefit of eating right, exercising, keeping your weight down and not smoking.
If your waist is less than 39 inches around, you may be free of worry about insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes and a big health risk in and of itself—it’s associated with heart disease. But if you are wider than that, watch out! You’re at risk for both diabetes and heart disease.
Dr. William Sears, author of Family Nutrition Book, offers advice to parents on improving their children’s diet
As Your Child heads back to school, it’s a challenge to ensure that she or he is eating the healthy foods needed to maintain glucose control. “The best advice I can give to parents of kids with diabetes or prediabetes is, ‘Make a project out of your problem!’” says William Sears, M.D., noted pediatrician and dedicated advocate of good nutrition. “Make it clear to your kids that eating well is one way to excel at sports, in school and on the playground. Also explain to them the power of a brainy breakfast. If you have junk for breakfast, you’ll have a junky day. Eat brainy food for breakfast and you’ll have a good day,” says Dr. Sears.
What constitutes brainy food? Good carbohydrates, protein and fiber. “For young children,” says Dr. Sears,
“I explain that good carbohydrates always hang out with their two good friends, protein and fiber. These two keep carbs from increasing blood sugar too quickly. High protein perks up the brain, fiber helps provide a steady supply of carbs.” Dr. Sears, who helped design the cereal Mighty Bites, stresses that kids should have at least as many grams of fiber a day as their age plus 5; 14 grams a day is a good target. And he says foods with choline, zinc, iron and bone-building calcium are important.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of any flavor no-sugar-added real fruit jam; 1/4 cup raw cane sugar; 1 T water; 1/2 cup natural peanut
butter; 4 cups Kashi® Mighty Bites™ cereal; 1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
1. In a large glass bowl, mix jam, sugar and water. Cover and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove and stir well. Cover and zap for 30 more seconds.
2. Remove bowl from microwave; add peanut butter to hot jam mixture.
3. Put Mighty Bites cereal into a separate mixing bowl. Add peanut butter and jam mixture and stir until cereal is coated and mixture sticks together.
4. Spray a 13" x 9" cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and pour in cereal mixture, pressing it into the
bottom and corners. Press chopped peanuts into the mixture. Refrigerate for 30 minutes; cut into 24 squares.
1 square = 100 cals; 4g fat; 0.5g
saturated fat; 0g trans fat; 12g carbs; 2g dietary fiber; 8% iron; 4% zinc
Mom Cures?
A 56-year-old woman donated half of her fully functioning islet cells to her daughter so that the younger woman could stop taking insulin. The daughter has suffered from diabetes for 12 years, since a diagnosis
at age 15. The intricate operation, which doctors performed at Kyoto University Hospital in Japan, marks the first successful transplant of insulin-producing cells from a living donor into someone with diabetes. The operation took place in January 2005; the doctors slowly weaned the younger woman—who did not have autoimmune type 1 diabetes—off insulin. Her mother has had no negative side effects from losing 50 percent of her insulin-producing islets. The doctors speculate that the transplant may remain effective for at least five years, and, even if the daughter needs to start insulin injections again, her glucose levels will be much more stable. Head researcher Shinichi Matsumoto, M.D., Ph.D., says, “We believe that such a transplantation can be an additional option in the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes.”
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